Day 31 - 4 Ingredients

When April asked who posted the recipe for Corn Fritters I stalked her post, thinking it might be something we could try making, it turns out that the page they were from is a gold mine of awesome easy recipes. I ended up not being interested in the fritters, but loved the look of this pasta sauce which has a lactose free option, I am actually looking forward to cooking something, I only hope that it turns out as good as it sounds. using only 4 ingredients is my kind of cooking!!

Day 30 - Tile Shopping

As it is Nathan's last day off today, we thought that we had better go tile shopping and at least get some ideas even if we don't make a concrete decision. All of the photo's that I took are terrible, taken as fast as possible so we could stop shopping already, gosh I really do not like it. We ended up doing a bit of a shop around and got almost this exact tile for only $18 a square meter and managed to save on the bigger white wall tiles too. Hopefully it looks ok finished with the longer tiles going vertically instead of horizontally. I guess we will find out in a couple of weeks.

As much as I complain when Nathan is home all the time, it has been awesome having him to help with everything these last two weeks. Especially as he let me sleep in a lot of the mornings we were away. I think tomorrow morning will be a rude shock to my system actually having to get up and entertain Maddie in the morning.

Day 29 - Stopping Work

Stopping is such a strange word for the work that you need to do to plaster before you paint, and apparently it is a really awful, time consuming job. Thankfully Mark and Nathan organised someone to sort this out for us as Nathan really didn't want to do it, and we are running out of time to finish the extension. I cant wait for it to be all corniced, architraves on and painted, it should look awesome. Still a lot of work to go though, and a lot more plaster dust mess to be made I am guessing.

Day 28 - MKR

My Kitchen Rules was on tonight with Andrew and Emelia representing the ACT. They did shockingly and didn't appear to be anyone's favourite on social media, but I thought that they did pretty well. 'Hingey' looks and acts exactly as I remember him from kid's club and high school way too many years ago. I was impressed that he still acted with the same eccentric energy that he had growing up and didn't try to change for the show.

While I know the producers edit all of the show, Kelly is awful! Her comments and smirks are disgusting and I don't know if it was just because I was hoping that the ACT team would do better or because she is in fact a horrible rude person that I disliked her so much. I hope when it comes to their turn to cook, that they don't do well so that Andrew and Emelia are able to stay on the show.

Day 27 - Here We Go Again - 52/4

Back on the boat today, and thankfully the medication worked, well it stopped the vomiting anyway, I can't say that I actually felt well all day. I was able to actually look after Maddie and attempt to take photo's today, so Nathan got to have a bit of an explore and some quiet time on this part of the trip. The face painting stand that they set up is awesome and Maddie absolutely loved her butterfly. She had the same thing done on the way over to Tasmania as well, and wanted today's to be the same. The lady that did her face paint was the one that cleaned Maddie up after her spew during the circus and she even recognised us.

I am so glad to be finished with the boat, I hate flying but I think that when I go back to visit it will most definitely be by air. You lose so much time on the boat and it really is not a nice way to travel, I no longer want to go on a cruise one day, nor am I sure that I will be in a rush to go out on the lake at Ulladulla.

Maddie already misses Grace and can't understand why she didn't come back with us. This morning was terrible as Maddie was convinced she would be there when we arrived and didn't want to get back on the boat without her. Hopefully she isn't too sad about it for long and with any luck she will make new friends at Preschool and not need Grace as much as she thinks that she does now, otherwise we may just need to abduct her.

Day 26 - Goodbye Again

This time it seems like it is us abandoning the Morgan's as they head home from our few days away together and we head back to the dreaded boat. We had a lovely morning at Grindelwald, aside from all of my tears when the girls finally opened their Christmas Presents, Simon even tried to send me to my room for crying!! After a wander of the village and some time on the giant pillow we went to look at the Gorge in Launceston. I have to say that Launceston has some of the awesomest free entertainment available, first the monkeys yesterday then the whole Gorge today, its just a shame people let their kids pee where ever they are standing.

The girls were so tired today, but still played fairly well together, I think they are going to miss each other a whole lot, Maddie keeps asking when Grace is coming to the hotel we are in tonight. I think she thought that we would be taking her home with us, which Grace may have agreed to after being informed we were parting ways this afternoon. I cried my eyes out at the Gorge, I so didn't want to leave, maybe I will move to Tasmania after all.

Day 25 - Launceston

The drive from Bicheno to Launceston must have been the windiest road there is in Australia, Poor Maddie got car sick about an hour into the trip and we had to pull over on an almost non existent shoulder on the straightest part of the road that we could find. Thankfully I had put spare clothes in a bag that was easy to get to otherwise we would have been in trouble!

We made it to Launceston with plenty of time to check out the Monkey's in the park and to have a rest in the bean bags that were scattered around the grounds. Maddie had a little mishap getting into hers, and almost ended up rolling down the hill which she thought was hilarious. After spending some time in Hobart, Launceston seemed like the dodgier part of Tasmania, with people barely wearing enough clothes to cover the necessities, and the family in front of us let their 4-5 year old wee on the grass, right in front of us, despite there being a bathroom less than 100m away.

Grindelwald is a strange little place, its so weird that someone built a little Swiss village just outside a capital city. It is a shame that the new owners aren't maintaining the buildings as with just a little work they could look so much better. The room we shared, well sort of shared, was awesome as we were able to stay up and chat until we were all too tired. I have missed our chats, talking over the net just isn't the same.

Day 24 - Penguin Hunting

What a crazy busy day we have had today, first Nathan and Maddie went and had some breakfast at a little cafe just down the road from John's hotel while I had a blood test, before we went to the chemist to stock up on Medication as we were heading out of the city and into a tiny little coastal area. The trip to Bicheno was so pretty, full of either ocean views or lush green vineyards on every corner of the road, and there were a lot of corners on the road up. It started raining on the way which had me worried that we weren't going to make it so see any Penguins but thankfully the rain only lasted about an hour.

The motel in Bicheno was nice and quiet, and their lamb cutlets were the best I have ever had, they were so so yummy! When we made it down to our waiting spot after first checking out another area the kids played in the sand while we watched for Penguins. Just as we were about to give up, we saw some emerge and I went to sit on a rock to wait for this little one to come out. Unfortunately my phone went flat as I tried to take a better photo but I am sure the Morgan's got plenty as they chased the poor things around to get a good shot. The penguins were pretty happy to come up fairly close to you, so long as you were still, but apparently I was the only person in the whole of Tasmania that could sit still. When Leah and Simon walked away a noisy bunch of people came over and just couldn't get the hint when I said if you sit still and quietly they come over. I wonder if they ended up getting to see any of the Penguins come over.

Day 23 - Cute

We crashed the Morgan's place this afternoon for a play and to collect another referral, despite having left Maddie with them in a park for half the morning while I had an ultrasound. The Tasmanian health system is awesome, I was able to call at 9am and get an appointment for 10am the same day and the sonographer was brilliant. It turns out that I have the same thing that I had with Maddie early on, and at this stage it is nothing to worry about, which is totally easier said than done. I am so glad I am under the fertility clinic, they sent me the referral by email so that I didn't even need to see a doctor. Although I plan to see one tonight so I can get some medication for the trip home and this arm of mine checked out. The doctor in the hospital did a terrible job of taking my blood, I can't even straighten my arm and the bruise is huge.

We had lunch with Leah's parents near to their house this afternoon, which I am sure was lovely, I am not positive though because I couldn't manage to eat much as I got really unwell around the same time that it was served. Although I am not sure if that was the pregnancy hormones or the fact that we were talking about going home on the dreaded boat that made me so sick. The clubs here are awesome and so kid friendly, but with all these great parks, it is hard to get them to sit down and eat their meals before they go off to play. Little Eli is such a quiet little baby, he hardly made a squeak all day again today, it was tempting to go an poke him just to see if he does actually cry.

Day 22 - Sight Seeing

Today we went and saw some of the tourist attractions around Hobart starting with the Salmon Ponds out at Plenty. Maddie and Grace had an awesome time feeding the fish the food that smelt a lot like cat biscuits but the highlight for Grace was definitely showing us the eel tanks. There were awesome places that you could fish in the river around the ponds, and when I threw in some food to see what was there a few big fish, three giant eels and a platypus came out to eat it. After an awesome pancake lunch we headed up to Mt Wellington to check out the views of Hobart, and all the water that is there, before we headed into the play centre that was practically empty.

I finally got to try Praties, which I have heard about for years and I have to say, it is awesome! Why isn't there one in Canberra? Admittedly there wasn't many options that I wanted or could have with the fussy eating that pregnancy causes, but I was still pretty happy with my potato. I could almost be convinced to move to Hobart for these potatoes.

Day 21 - Best Friends Love

Maddie was so excited to be able to go see Grace this morning so we had no trouble getting her ready to check out of the motel in Launceston so we could hit the road. I had grand plans of recording the two of them seeing each other when we caught up with the Morgan's but instead about half an hour out of Hobart I discovered another Bleed so we went straight into the Hobart Hospital. I was already emotional enough, but when Simon turned up to check on us I started crying again.

Simon took Maddie back to their place with him, where the girls apparently squealed excitedly when they saw each other, and then Maddie joined in the celebrations for Leah's Mums Birthday. Maddie had a great time playing with Grace and Abby, and even helped blow out the candles on the birthday cake. Thank you for taking her for us guys, it would have been boring for her stuck in the hospital for all those hours.

The doctor we got in Emergency was brilliant, and fascinated by the fertility treatment we used to be able to get pregnant and took such good care of us, it was just a shame that the psycho nurse came and ruined that. The rude, unprofessional woman chastised the doctor in front of us for keeping us in a room that is normally used for interviews, when he had already checked with another doctor that it was OK for us to stay there. Eventually, after I said we needed to go we had a quick scan that showed the foetus with a good heartbeat so off we went to meet the Morgan's and relieve them of our kid.

Leah and I cried and hugged when we saw each other and talked for a few hours over dinner while the girls played, either in the playground or at a private table they went to sit at and little Eli hardly made a peep. He is adorable! Hopefully I can sneak Grace and Eli home with me when it is time to get back on the dreaded boat. Even just thinking about the trip home is making me feel sick.

Day 20 - Torture Vessel? 52/3

This is one of the only photo's that I took today, despite my best intentions to take loads of photos of Bass straight, Tasmania and Melbourne from the ship. After paying Nathan out for weeks in the lead up to the trip over to Tasmania, knowing he gets sea sick, it turns out that he was the only one who didn't. I was fine for the first two hours, even laughing at people walking once the boat started rocking as we passed through the heads, maybe karma didn't like that as for the 4.5 hours after that I was pretty much glued to a toilet.

Being sick in a public place is bad, but being sick in public toilets, while there are other people in the bathrooms, and people waiting to use a toilet is awful. Thankfully the first time Maddie was sick, she had decided she was coming for a walk with me, and as I dashed to the toilet, she said it was her turn and we managed to catch it all in the toilet. Unfortunately for Nathan, when she was sick during the circus show, there was no warning and it went everywhere. When I heard a strange woman with my kid, I had to pull myself together so I could go clean her up, as for some reason they didn't want Nathan taking her into the men's to be cleaned up. Turns out that was my saving grace, as that bought to attention that I was so sick and within half an hour I had a medic checking me over.

After so long throwing up and trying everything anyone could think of to stop it, the Medic took me upstairs to their office and gave me a shot of Maxalon. It was the best thing ever and within a few minutes I was not feeling the need to throw up any more. I was still nauseous and still felt every wave we went over, but it meant that for the last hour and a bit on the boat I could actually function as a parent. The medic told me that it was one of the smoothest passages they have had, which worries me about coming home again. Maybe I will just move here, and never ever have to go the boat again. I am even thinking about flying home, but knowing how sick I get in the air, I prefer the boat, knowing that I can at least get to a bathroom if need be, on a plane you are stuck in your seat for the worst parts of the trip.

Day 19 - Train Rides

Kim and Jac took us out to the Miniature Trains today, which were insane! The work thats gone into that park is phenomenal and there were so many people waiting to go I didn't think that they would ever get a ride. It turns out they had four trains going which held about 20 people each so the line moved fairly quickly even though the ride lasted about 15 minutes. Maddie was pretty excited to go around the second time as she loved all the tunnels and thought it was awesome getting to go with Kim and Jac while leaving us behind.

Day 18 - Kids On Swings

The park across the road from Kim and Jac's is awesome and even though we got in to Melbourne crazy late Maddie had so much energy that taking her to the park was essential for our sanity. For some reason Maddie seems to be scared of going down the slides here, even though she will go on the massive ones at lollipops, the biggest one Kim managed to get her to go down was only about 1mtr tall.

We are really looking forward to going to Tasmania on Monday, I cant wait to take some awesome photos of Bass Strait, which I do realise will just look like any other patch of ocean. Poor Nathan is not looking forward to sailing as he gets sea sick, hopefully Maddie doesn't too.

Day 17 - We Are On Our Way

I took this photo just as we got onto the Barton Highway and sent it to the Morgan's, We have a long way to go before we get to Tasmania. Thankfully we are staying in Melbourne with Kim and Jac for a few nights before we do the ocean part of the trip over. It is official, they moved way too far away from us!

Day 16 - Hot

Another day over 40 today, and even I have to admit that its too hot. Poor Maddie is bright pink almost all of the time even with the air conditioning on, and the animals are having their ice blocks so quickly I am amazed they don't seem to have brain freezes. Thankfully it is supposed to cool down on the weekend, as this heat is insane.

Day 15 - Lighting Shopping

I was supposed to be looking for down lights while I was in Bunnings today, but instead of picking some of those I decided that we will be having a sky light added to the walk in robe. Technically it is lighting, even if it wasn't what I was planning on for the day. Ian think's that we will need a sky light in the bathroom as well, but seeing as it would need to be central I am against that idea as it would mean not having a heat lamp. Easy choice, heat will always win with me.

Day 14 - Over Kill?

Maddie stepped on one of her toys tonight and it put a tiny little scratch on the bottom of her foot. At the moment the only way that she is convinced that a sore is going to get better is with a bandaid, but we couldn't get any to stick. The only way we could calm her down, was to bandage it up for the night which looks crazy for such a tiny little cut.

Day 13 - Concentration

I finally worked up the courage to open the pack of beads that I bought for Maddie before Christmas this afternoon, they are the best thing EVER!! Maddie sat on my bed and strung beads for three hours straight only needing my help to snip the end off the elastic when it started to fray too much. I love how her little tongue pokes out when she is concentrating. It is so cute!

Day 12 - Project 52 - 2

I had intended to take a photo every week for the project within a project but I couldn't resist using this self portrait that Maddie drew today. She loves the whiteboard that she got from up at number 43.

Day 11 - Ready Bed

We went and picked up a Ready Bed today, to make sleeping on our holiday a bit easier. Maddie was pretty impressed with her choice of Princess Beds, and was determined to sleep in it tonight. Unfortunately every time she rolls over you hear the bed shift, which is really irritating. Maddie only rolled out of the bed the one time, and slept pretty well considering all of the sound it makes. Hopefully it will be something we are pleased that we purchased, it certainly takes up less room than a normal camping mattress and it was easy enough to inflate. I don't know that I would want to take it away with us when we aren't driving though, as the bed and the pump would take up a fair bot of room in the suitcase.

Day 10 - Issues With Losing?

We discovered just before new years that Maddie had an issue with her not winning things when we went to pick up the tickets that I won to the baseball. So today, while Mum was keeping me distracted as I had my first episode of spotting we decided to see how Maddie went playing Bocce. I took this shot, just before she picked up her ball and moved it closer to the little black one and started singing 'I win, I win.' Mum then proceeded to teach Maddie to try be a bit better when she didn't win, by making her take it in turns with winning, and congratulating the winner, but every time she lost, she walked to the step and had a fairly good cry about it. While it is funny watching her over reactions to winning and losing, it is a bit of a worry that she is so competitive at this stage, especially seeing as we try to do very little that involves winning at home.

Day 9 - Bathroom

The only photo's that I took today were of the new bathroom, I was going to try and get an app that I could upload the images into so i could play around with colourings for the tiles, but couldn't end up finding what I wanted. The plaster on the walls does look pretty cool though, I cant wait for it all to be finished.

Day 8 - Not Ready

I bought Maddie a bead set just before Christmas after seeing Elsie playing with some and thinking what a brilliant way to tune those fine motor skills. Little did I know, Nathan is really not keen on beads and the crazy mess that we expect will happen so they still haven't been opened two weeks after buying them. Rather than open them today, when I unpacked the coast toy bag, I handed Maddie some play-dough and I am sure that after playing with that all day, its got to have made more mess than beads could. Maybe next week we will give them a go while I try to keep Maddie inside and cool during the heatwave.

Day 7 - Lime Tree

I downloaded a new app today, thinking that it might be fun to play around with some photo's that I have taken, but it doesn't end up reflecting the true colours which is disappointing.
I love my new lime tree and pot that Mum and Geoff gave me for Christmas, it looks awesome on the deck, although it is needing a lot of water at the moment to keep the leaves open and the plant looking happy.

Day 6 - Project 52 -1

A project within a project seems a little insane, but when I saw an article about project 52, I couldn't resist, and starting another blog just seemed insane. Fifty two weeks, 52 portraits, all of them including Maddie. I guess the difference between this part of my blog and every other picture that is of her, is that I will be consciously attempting to take a portrait picture of her.

Today's isn't a great start, she has her lunch still on her face, and is not smiling as I had just asked her to stand on two feet instead of doing the tree pose she favours at the moment. but she still looks cute and was pretty happy with the picture's that I took.

Day 5 - Baseball

We used the tickets that I won from the Zoo last year to go see the Canberra Cavalry take on the Adelaide Bite this afternoon. I loved watching the players dive for either the bases or the ball, and thought the sneaking bases that one team member did was hilarious. I would have gotten an awesome shot of Bertie stealing a base had I not moved the camera too far over so I could better watch his dive. The game was pretty awesome to watch but went for about 3.5 hours, so our sun cream wore off and we are awfully burnt now. I suspect we will head out there more next year, I think the night games would be awesome, but I wonder how often they will play, there was maybe 200 people there to watch the game, and while the Fort couldn't hold a lot more people, I wonder how they cover their costs of the games, surely it can't all be sponsorship.

Day 4 - Christmas Tree Is Still Up

We came home from the coast today, and despite getting home early afternoon, we still haven't taken the Christmas tree down. I think this is the longest its ever been up for and I am loving that we are still getting to look at it for another night.

I attempted to get a good photo of this ornament, but I just couldn't get the lighting right to better reflect the true colours. I really need to learn how to use this camera properly this year.

Day 3 - Awesome Views

The lighthouse in Ulladulla must be one of my favourite places in the area so I always make an effort to stop by when we are down here and take a photo. I love the view from up here and the different colours you always see in the waters below but I have to admit, my favourite things that I have seen when we are visiting are dolphins or seals. I was pretty disappointed today to see people fishing on the rocks and kids looking like they were having a picnic down there, don't they know that one, rock fishing is dangerous and two, if they are there, no wildlife will be hopping up onto the rocks.

Last year I said that I would have to try more to not use my iPhone to take photo's as the images are imperfect and grainy almost all the time. Without my iPhone though, I wouldn't have almost all of my favourite pictures, as it is just so much easier to get out and have ready in an instant.

Day 2 - What Kind Of Throw Was That Mum?

Maddie asked me to throw her out her kick-board today while she was swimming with Nathan, but at the same time as I Frisbee'd it out, I realised there was a breeze coming across the lake which meant my toss meant Maddie had to swim to close to me to get her board. She made it in, on her own with no troubles, but was not going back out to Nathan until he came in to take her over the seaweed. She definitely doesn't like the feel of it under her feet, just like me.

Day 1 - A Great Start To The Year

After falling asleep before 12 last night I thought I was in for a great nights sleep but unfortunately that wasn't to be. The neighbours did a massive countdown with party poppers and then Maddie woke at 230 for a chat, that lasted until the sun came up. When she did wake up for the day, Nathan took her out of the room and let me have an awesome sleep in, which has to be the best way to start a new years morning. Once I finally got up we ventured to Dolphin Point, the dog and kid friendly beach nearby for a swim and a read on the side. Maddie loved the sandbar in the middle, and once Nathan had helped Tucker to get out there, I think that he was pretty impressed too.

It was awesome sitting on the side watching my family have a great time in the freezing cold water, while I stayed warm. I truly am lucky to have them I just wish this picture had turned out clearer, but I forgot to take my camera down the coast and the iPhone's zoom functions just aren't that great.